A top dressage rider who was left in a wheelchair after a horrific accident caused by out of control dogs has won £500,000 in damages.
Melissa Smith, a former international grand prix competitor, was riding her horse along a bridlepath in Surrey when two dogs being walked off the lead by a professional dog walker suddenly spooked her mare – causing it to rear up and fall on top of her.
The devastating incident left the 40-year-old with a broken pelvis, broken back and serious head injury, and she had to be airlifted to hospital where doctors warned her the injuries were life-threatening.
The terrifying fall left her unable to walk and confined to a wheelchair for months but determined Melissa battled back through multiple surgeries and two years of grueling rehab, and has even managed to get back in the saddle.
Now, after a lengthy legal fight, she’s been awarded half a million pounds in compensation and a court ruling which could have serious implications for dog walkers across the country.
The accident happened in December 2018, when Ms Smith, who ran a livery yard and trained dressage horses, was out riding her eight-year-old mare Lorentina, affectionately known as Loti, on Crooksbury Common in Surrey.
She encountered dog walker Diane Worth, who was out with four dogs, and warned her to keep them under control.
Ms Worth managed to put two of the animals back on the lead, but two others, a black cockapoo named Buddy and a white cavapoochon named Harley, ignored her commands and ran free.
As the dogs darted around her horse, Ms Smith again warned: ‘Although my horse is good with dogs, their walker should not let them get behind her horse in case it kicked out.’
Moments later, disaster struck. The startled horse reared up and threw Ms Smith to the ground, then fell on top of her, crushing her beneath its body.
Speaking this week, Ms Smith told The Telegraph: ‘The horse I was riding was badly frightened by the loose dogs and she fell on top of me, crushing me, becoming stuck with her legs up in the air.
‘She managed to get up but I knew I was very seriously injured. I was taken by air ambulance to St George’s where I was told I had life-threatening injuries, needed emergency surgery and would need two years’ rehabilitation to recover.’
Ms Smith took legal action against the dog walker, suing for negligence. The case went to court in 2023 after Ms Worth’s insurance company disputed liability but the judge ruled in Melissa’s favour, concluding she had suffered because of the dog walker’s failure to keep the animals under control.
Judge Jonathan Simpkiss found that something must have spooked the usually calm horse to cause her to rear and said it could ‘only have been the dogs’ behaviour.’
He added: ‘With the benefit of hindsight, one can easily see that if all four dogs had been on leads, this accident would probably not have happened.’
One of the dogs, Harley, had reportedly been described by its owners as able to walk off the lead, ‘but may chase other wildlife.’
The judge said this should have included horses unless it was specifically noted that the dog was used to them.
He ruled that it was foreseeable that if a dog ran loose near a horse, it could frighten the animal and the risk of a rider being seriously injured was significant.
Ms Worth, he said, should have known that horses were regularly ridden on the common and ought to have anticipated such a risk.
He found her liable, saying her failure to take reasonable steps to prevent the risk had caused the accident.
Ms Worth admitted in court that she had lost control of Buddy and Harley.
Her legal team had tried to argue that Ms Smith herself was partly to blame, saying her horse had been ‘pawing’ the ground and snorting, but the judge dismissed the claim, adding that the rider had been ‘experienced and highly competent’ and had been in control until the moment the horse reared.
An allegation that Ms Smith should not have been riding in an area used by dog walkers, despite it being a public bridlepath, was withdrawn during proceedings.
Melissa’s solicitor Mary Ann Charles, from equestrian law specialists Shaw & Co, who is also a rider herself, said the accident should never have happened.
She said: ‘It’s not an accident that should have happened. There’s a lack of understanding that this risk exists.
‘The person on the horse usually understands but the person with the dog doesn’t necessarily. They’re concerned about the welfare of the dog, not really thinking about the welfare of the people they’re encountering.’